halo 2 game review
Test: Halo 2Considered one of the very best FPS consoles alongside the legendary Goldeneye by Rare, Halo had made the heyday of the Xbox by taking the lead in its launch line up. Today, everyone is feverishly awaiting his sequel, wriggling with impatience that touches on fanaticism. In a moment of truth, was all this commercial hubbub around the Bungie FPS, deserved? You're freaking out there, huh?
In case you are not aware, by the time you read these lines, Halo 2 will already be carefully housed on the shelves of conscientious sellers and will unleash the passions of players who slammed their monthly budget early in the morning. And we will not blame them for rushing to make their purchase because we can already say it, Halo 2 is worth its weight in peanuts and even if talking about revolution is excessive, this second opus takes in any case the first step of the podium FPS on consoles.
So here we are back in the role of the Master Chief after having previously followed in the introduction the fate of the officer Covenant who was in charge of the defense of the Halo of the first episode. For him, the sentence is exemplary and yet we find him in the role of the Arbiter, a needy but formidable soldier, made to be sacrificed during capital but suicide missions. At the same time, the Covenants are refining their revenge against the Earth, which will soon be subjected to a large-scale attack.
If you expected from Halo 2 a colossal mass of innovations and new things, great good will however make you put in perspective and to note that, finally, they are not so numerous. In the first place, we will quickly discover one of them which consists in being able to use 2 weapons at the same time (yes, we already did it in Goldeneye) while knowing that these weapons can be different. A needler on the left and an SMG on the right for example, used independently. The counterpart of such firepower being that you will no longer be able to use the melee attack and especially that you will have to make a big cross on grenades more than ever useful. The other clearly more fun addition to my taste concerns the possibility of approaching vehicles, more numerous in passing than in Halo. By positioning yourself correctly on the path of a banshee, you can climb on it and eject your pilot with a good blow of batten in what serves as gums to a Covenant. Enjoyable. But paradoxically, what we appreciate the most in this is to see that what you do, your enemies will not hesitate to do too. We are greatly surprised the first time an Elite squirts us from our seat.
Still in the chapter of the brand new, beautiful, let us quote the fact that the scenario will take us to live the fate of the famous Arbiter from the inside. Some missions will actually see us embody this Covenant character. The opportunity to discover the joys of one of the new weapons of the game, the energy blade, a devastating close combat weapon and particularly pleasant to use.
And finally, players attentive to the tutorial will learn that the new armor of the Master Chief has a shield that recharges faster. You should know that we do not have a life gauge in Halo 2, only a protective screen which once empty leaves us perfectly vulnerable, which forces the player to cover himself and to avoid going too far in the pile.
For the rest, Halo 2 is "simply" better Halo. Starting with AI. The allies who will follow you frequently react really to what is happening and most of the time, they do it well but it is especially on the side of the Covenant that we find something to rejoice. Bungie probably signs the best artificial intelligence of an FPS console. As in the first, we find the various classes of enemies who each react in their own way. The little worms run away as soon as you get too close, the big oxen rush you over without fear and the Elites or Escorts, very vicious, fall on you from behind without warning. We can see these multiple attitudes by using this good old trick of the plasma grenade that is stuck on an enemy. The most idiotic run towards their allies and detonate everyone while the cleverest will sometimes go as far as playing suicide bombers to take you with them. However, they are not immune to regrettable behavior. Outside certain areas from which one can only leave after having completely emptied, when crossing the levels, one can completely flee like a coward with all legs. If the Covenants are cunning like space foxes, we are astonished that they obstinately refuse to fight once outside a given perimeter. For once, the credibility takes a hit, the challenge of the game too. Cheating friends, hello, you have a great game tip.
It will therefore be necessary to be careful in Halo 2 and know how to use environments to take cover and not be too exposed to dangers that will come, moreover, from all directions. The arrival of opponents with jet packs will force you to watch out for the threat that comes from the sky. And it will be better to aim just, because if we can always use any weapon found on the ground, ammunition is often limited and running out is therefore frequent. It will then be necessary to know how to fire any wood and often to use and abuse melee attacks, a good blow of stick in the mandibles of the aliens, it is as fun as it is effective.
With enrichments from right to left, Halo's gameplay is still based on the basics we already know: quality AI and intense action. If it is linear, Halo 2 avoids however to yield to "all scripted and it shows" of a Medal Of Honor. The environments are varied and especially the level design is less simplistic than we had seen in the last levels of the first Halo. But the staging of the action remains an essential component of immersion. If the game always comes down to making us shoot at anything that has a periwinkle head with or without a shell, we will do it in various situations, under the pressure of external events and facing certain unforeseen situations of good quality. Enemy reactions, also varied, also make it possible and subtly to prevent things from turning in a loop, it only takes a short sentence that you had never heard to find the feeling of facing a character you hasn't gone down 28 times already. In the same vein, we will thank the animation of the characters which consists of many movements.
This is how Halo 2 makes you forget that there is in the background a very basic shooter which consists, in 90 percent of cases, of erasing everything that moves on the screen. Because if we often have some objective (deactivate a shield, pick up a station etc.) we still spend our time going from room to room to create a vacuum. It would be easy to tax the game of redundancy and it must be said that it sometimes jumps to the eyes: a level crossing, an "arena" zone with a surge of enemies and rebelote as we say in the jargon. It is undeniable that Bungie could have sprained himself to add more explosive sequences than we already find in the game. However, pad in hand, things are well enough mounted that we do not suffer from this aspect and the game reserve many epic fights and full of adrenaline. Enemies all around you, a deflagration on the right, one on the left while you approach a vehicle to try to get you out of a delicate situation ... You return to the ground, more ammunition, will have to play with your elbows enemies too sticky and heavy grenades for distant observers. Level design progress is no stranger to richer and more lively levels, although some passages are less inspired than others. One will think for example of the second Covenant chapter which borders on boredom.
Extremely rare in an FPS, the scenario also plays a large part in immersion. Not necessarily revolutionary but of good quality in the Sci-Fi genre, we especially appreciate that it is clearly highlighted and served by high-flying cutscenes, long and produced with great care. We are easily taken in by the parallel stories of the Arbiter Covenant and the human Master Chief. Of course, Halo 2 is not only solo, it is also a big multiplayer component unfortunately, difficult to get an idea with empty Xbox Live servers. But with the means at hand, we can already ensure that the co-op mode will make people happy (we will blame it all the same for not being online) and so far no multiplayer part of Halo has left indifferent. In a few words, we will say that Halo 2 is not a revolution, or only in the Microsoft marketing buzz. But devil, what a good game!
The notes
Graphics 18/20
Bungie offers us a powerful engine which ensures high quality animations, effects with all the sauces, a physics which turns round and living environments. In short, it's beautiful.
Gameplay 18/20
No reproach in terms of handling, except perhaps for vehicles whose handling is sometimes confusing for some. Regarding the gameplay, even if it can seem highly repetitive, the staging and the AI help to clear this pitfall. An excellent FPS in short.
Lifespan 14/20
"Small" black dot of Bungie's title since we finish the game in barely 10/15 hours in normal mode. It is therefore strongly advised to increase the difficulty level from the start.
Soundtrack 18/20
The musical themes are at worst, very good, at best excellent. The same goes for dubbing, both for cutscenes and for in-game speeches. Great art that deserves a good installation 5.1.
Scenario 16/20
The FPS have not accustomed us to put forward so much their scenario. The latter is of quality although a little uneven sometimes, but it is especially presented by superb cinematics.
No, Halo 2 is not a fun revolution! It is content to be a suite enriched with a few subtle additions and to boost everything that had made the success of the first. We can address him some reproaches scattered throughout the test (a bit repetitive aspect, few novelties, enemies who camp on their positions if we flee ...) but it offers an action that reaches such heights of frenzy and malice that '' it places itself without any problem at the top of FPS all consoles combined.
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